


Mask

by The_Plaid_Slytherin



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Sailor Moon Classic, Tuxecret Santa 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-04-23 03:06:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4860683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minako's princess ruse lasts a bit longer than in canon and she gets to know her teammates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mask

**Author's Note:**

> Written for initiala as part of the 2014 Tuxecret Santa exchange on Tumblr.

It was with some trepidation that Minako climbed the many steps to the Hikawa Shrine. "Do you really think this will work?" she whispered to her white cat companion.

"Of course it will," Artemis responded with the confidence of someone who has just seen a plan millennia in the making come to fruition. "They've been searching for the Princess all this time. They're just happy they've found her."

"I know." Minako paused, brushing her hair back. "But lying…"

Artemis jumped up to her shoulder, a weight she'd become used to in the past year. "It's not lying, Mina. You're a soldier, doing your duty. You're protecting the Princess by doing this."

"Yeah, but—" Minako tried to will away the gnawing feeling of guilt in her stomach. She shouldn't feel bad deceiving these girls. They were her allies, fellow soldiers. It wasn't like they were friends. They would understand she was simply carrying out the plan. 

"Princess!" Rei nearly dropped her broom as Minako approached. "I wasn't expecting you this early." 

"I just wanted to say hi." Minako smiled. "I may be the Princess, but I'm just an ordinary junior high girl like you." 

"But—" Rei began, but stopped. "I'll get you some tea. Please come into my room." 

Minako studied the shrine maiden from the back as they walked to Rei's room. So this was Sailor Mars. She would be a dedicated ally—hotheaded but determined, she'd been the first to bow to the "Princess." It would be worth getting to know her. 

"Please wait here. I'll get us some tea." Rei's manner of speaking was polite—almost too polite. Minako glanced around the room she'd been left in. It was spacious, much bigger than Minako's Western-style bedroom. It was much neater, too. Not a thing was out of place. 

Except… 

There were books missing from the bookshelf. Everything was alphabetized perfectly, except for a large section which was empty. Why had Rei skipped putting books in that spot? Minako slumped over the kotatsu. She really needed a break from this job. Was she going to overthink everything?

That was when she noticed it, peeking out from underneath Rei's bed. 

"Mina, what?" Artemis began as Minako vaulted over the table in one motion, flipped the hanging bedclothes up and came face-to-face with herself.

Sailor V manga as far as the eye could see. Minako pawed through it. Every issue of _Nakayoshi_ since the series had started running. The first run of the collected editions. The special editions, with first-press goodies.

"Artemis, look!" She held the figure of him (incorrectly depicted with green eyes, and as female, though the figure didn't reflect that). "It's you! She has the you we waited in line for and couldn't get." 

At this moment, the door slid open. Rei stared, tea tray gripped tightly in her hands. "P-Princess! I—I—I—" All of her earlier perfect politeness had been reduced to incoherent sputtering. Her face was as red as her fuku. 

"Rei-chan, this is really cool!" Minako reached for one of the special editions.

"Wait!" Rei clanged the tea tray down on the table and dove across the room. "I don't open that one. I mean—" She relaxed, shrink-wrapped book safely in her hands, fixed smile back in place. "Please feel free to look at any of the others. I always buy two copies." 

Minako hid her smile. Artemis rolled his eyes. 

**

"Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me, Princess." Ami Mizuno stood up from her seat in front of the Sailor V game and bowed. "It's wonderful that we've finally found you."

Minako's smile was fixed and fake. She hated it, but it was necessary. Ami was, by far, the most dangerous. She would probably connect the dots about Minako's ruse before the others did. "It's me who's happy. You've been waiting for me so long, but it was only now that I could reveal myself." 

"Well." Ami looked flustered. "I thought we would discuss strategy. The others will be here later, but I wanted to compare notes on the Dark Kingdom. We've both been fighting them separately for so long that there are bound to be things one of us has found out that the other hasn't." She pulled the first notebook off of a stack of about eight.

Minako nodded, listening while Ami gave a brief overview of their battles with Jadeite and Nephrite, prior to Minako's arrival. She was glad Ami was so meticulous—in her time as Sailor V, Minako had developed a similar thoroughness that would have made the lazy girl she'd been before wince. She knew some of what Ami was telling her from having observed the girls from afar for so long, but it was always good to hear from the source. 

Then, she noticed something. "Were you playing the Sailor V game before I got here?" 

Ami jumped, blushing. The screen displaying her score was still visible. "Only to pass the time. It improves reflexes and reaction time and I thought—"

Minako leaned across her, looking at the high scores. "Ami-chan, are these all you?" The names listed by the top five scores were all the same

MERCURY  
MERCURY  
MERCURY  
MERCURY  
MERCURY

"I've been trying to practice." Ami looked down. "You see, I'm not the strongest fighter and—"

"Ami-chan!" Minako grabbed her hands. "Could you have done this if you weren't strong?" She waved at the notebooks stacked on the game console. "You color-coded. I don't even color code."

Ami colored slightly. "Well, Princess—" She paused. "You like my system?"

Minako nodded firmly. "It'll be a big help." _Now I just need to keep you from figuring me out.  
_

**

"Princess, watch out, it's hot!"

"Whoa!" Minako caught herself tripping over Artemis who yowled and dodged out of the way. She set the pan down on the counter.

Makoto laughed, a gentle sound. "I guess a princess wouldn't know her way around the kitchen." 

"Well, I'm not really a princess," Minako said. "I mean—" she added before Artemis could get his claws into her. "I'm not a princess in this life." _Or any_ , she thought. 

"That's good," Makoto said, tapping the whisk against the side of her bowl. "I wasn't sure I'd be good around a princess. I always feel like a bull in a china shop." She laughed, nervously, busying herself with gathering measuring spoons to put in the sink. "I'm not elegant like you or Rei-chan, or smart like Ami-chan, or cute like Usagi-chan." She paused and put a hand to her mouth. "I said too much, didn't I? I don't mean to complain." 

"Mako-chan!" Minako put down the spoon she was licking. "You're plenty cute and elegant! Un-cute people don't buy aprons like this." She tugged at her borrowed apron, which had a heart on it. "And non-elegant people don't know how to use one of these things." She picked up the pastry bag they were planning to decorate the cake with. "You're twice as cute and elegant as I'll ever be!" She gave the pastry bag an emphatic squeeze, sending icing all over the cake, counter, and Artemis. 

For a moment, Makoto looked at her in shock. "Princess!" 

Minako winced. Surely her cover was completely blown now.

Then, Makoto started to laugh. "I'm sorry," she said, between gulps of air. "I shouldn't be laughing." She didn't seem to be trying to stop, though. 

Minako's lips twitched. Then, she started laughing, too. It felt good.

Artemis just glowered at them both.

**

"Wait up! Minako-chan!" 

Minako turned and watched as Usagi came running up. This had been the one she'd been dreading the most. The real Princess. The one it was her duty to protect. 

Usagi grabbed her arm, pigtails flying. "It's so exciting to get to go shopping with you! Plus, I really need your opinion."

Minako blinked. "On what?"

"Artemis's Christmas present!" She began ticking off on her fingers. "I went with Ami-chan to get Luna's and Rei-chan to get Ami-chan's and Mako-chan to get yo—I mean, somebody's." She came to a dramatic pause. "And I need you to help me get one for Artemis." 

Christmas presents? Minako gaped at her. This was Sailor Moon, their leader and true Princess. The battle against the Dark Kingdom was growing more pitched every day, and she was worried about Christmas presents? 

Usagi didn't seem to notice Minako's incredulous look, though. She grabbed her hand and pulled her into the crowd. As they walked along the brightly-lit streets, Minako kept an eye out for any sign of Dark Kingdom activity. A shopping district days before Christmas would be the perfect place to send a youma to gather energy. She scanned the crowd, looking for anything out of place. 

"Oh! Look at that!"

Minako froze, hand already in her pocket for her henshin pen. "What is it?" 

"Those black kitty mittens! They're sooo cute!" Usagi flew up to the shop window. "They look just like Luna, don't you think?"

Minako closed her eyes, regulating her breathing. Of course they were safe here. She'd been alone too long. Evil wasn't waiting around every corner, despite the sense of foreboding that had been in her chest every waking moment for the past several weeks.

Usagi was already entering the shop and Minako pushed in after her, not wanting to let the Princess out of her sight. 

"Say, Minako-chan, weren't you lonely?" 

"Hm?" 

Usagi put down the scarf she'd been examining. "All by yourself." Her big blue eyes were full of concern. "I was alone before we found Ami-chan—well, me and Luna. But you and Artemis were by yourselves for _so_ long, even after we had Rei-chan and Mako-chan. Why did you wait so long?" 

Minako opened her mouth to give the standard answer. She was waiting for the girls to get stronger. She had been watching them and they were now ready. The answer died on her lips. For a moment—a short one, but a moment nonetheless—she wished it had been someone else that Artemis had stumbled upon first. But she wouldn't have wished that fate, the fate of being first on Ami, or Rei, or Makoto, and especially not Usagi. Usagi had gone through enough before Ami had awakened. Minako wasn't any stronger than they were. 

But she was lonely. Ever since she'd been aware that the team was forming, she'd been counting down the days until she could join them. 

"The mission," she finally answered. "It was for the good of the mission."

By the look in her eyes, that wasn't good enough for Usagi. Suddenly, she threw her arms around Minako and hugged her tight. "We're all together now," she said firmly. "And you never have to be alone anymore, Minako-chan."

To her horror, Minako had to fight back tears. When was the last time that had happened? Slowly, she lifted her arms to hug her princess back. Was this how it had been in the Silver Millennium? Her memories were foggy; she wasn't sure how the Venus back then had felt about the Princess, but she'd had the sense that, yes, the Princess had always been like that. 

While Usagi was up front buying a pair of miniature reindeer antlers that Minako had assured her Artemis would love, Minako circled back to get the mittens. This was the first step. There would be time later, when the Dark Kingdom was defeated. 

One day, Sailor V could drop her mask and join her friends.


End file.
